Premature baby (approx 1 monthe) with reflux, 6 months old - when to wean?

[Hazeyjane]

Ds is 6 months old, he was born at 39 weeks by elcs, but due to various signs of prematurity his consultant believes that my dates were wrong and that he was 4 or 5 weeks premature.

He has silent reflux, which is under control with ranitidine and gaviscon. He is not a big milk drinker (f'fed, usually has 4 or 5 oz a feed), and can't take large quantities, so often has drops in weight.

He has recently started feeding every 3 hours, is chewing his hand a lot (he already has 2 teeth) and will put a spoon in his mouth if he holds it.

Dd2 was blw and I hoped to go this way with ds, but although part of me thinks he is ready for solids, in some ways he doesn't seem quite there (he is not very steady when sitting in high chair, and has only just started reaching out for objects - fairly erratically!)

I know this is a bit of a mish mash of a post, but I'm a bit confused as to what to do. His consultant and dr have been fairly non commital about it, saying that he will either do really well on solids or be a bit of a nightmare (due to his reflux), they were also a bit nonplussed by the idea of blw.

Any thoughts or advice appreciated.

Thankyou.

Try a bit of baby rice and see? He is 6 months and meets the guidelines. Can't see it would do much harm and may help reflux.

My DD had reflux and it went once she started having solids. In fact our GP suggested weaning then and she was only 4 months at the time! I hung on to 5 and a half.

Thankyou, Fifitot.

I've often been told that babies with reflux respond well to solids, and often the reflux improves, but I'm nervous about starting too early because we are quite an atopic family (asthma and eczema). So even though I know he is 6 months, because he seems physically younger I suppose I was worried that he may still be too young.

I think I am overthinking it all because I wanted to do blw, and kind of be led by him, but if I start now, I will probably have to go down the baby rice and mush route - ah well.

Any other advice/experience would be great.

i think you do need to start him on solids if for no other reason that his iron levels will start to deplete and will need topping up.

A friend of mine had premi twins born 8 weeks early and was advised by the pead consultant to make sure they were onto solids by the 6 month mark for this reason.

You can always do a mix of BLW and purees and then move more towards BLW as his coordination improves.

Hi,

My DD was 6 weeks early and also has reflux.

The guidelines for preemies are to start at 26 weeks actual age so you should be fine.

I happened to bump into a lovely nurse who worked at a reflux clinic once in Tesco. We got chatting and her advice to me was just to take it slowly as reflux babies can be more susceptible to tummy troubles when weaning.

I started with purees and am now introducing BLW on GP's advice as they choose which bits of what is offered to eat they are less likely to have the tummy troubles as the range/types of food increase.

Hope thats helpful...